Before Lincoln even came into office, after the results of the 1860 election, South Carolina seceded from the union. Many of the anti-slavery Americans held the belief that the southern states should be allowed to secede peacefully. In Lincolns first, inaugural address he responded. Lincoln was dedicated to upholding the union he did not want to interfere with the “institution of slavery.” Lincoln made the argument that the union was created to be perpetual and by law that’s what it is. The union is far older than the issue, Lincoln says that the purpose of the constitution was to make the union “more perfect” and by allowing states to secede from the union it chips away at what the union stands for. If the states secede then that is counterproductive. …show more content…
If the constitution is properly followed there is no cause for secession.
By seceding, the states would only cause more problems within themselves, they would set the precedent for seceding. Going forward, seceding would become the knee-jerk reaction to any issue that arises. It would also create anarchy or result in despotism because there would be no order in the seceded states. Lincoln made sure to repeatedly claim that he wanted no violence within the union and would do his utmost to prevent any conflict. He appeals to the south by saying he is against any violence and meddling within the south. He makes the claim that the south has no real reason to secede because the constitution had not been violated in any way. He challenges the people to name one way in which the rights listed in the constitution had been broken. To him secession is not necessary because there are no real circumstances for it. The specifics of the laws are not in the constitution for the fugitive slave act. Lincoln acknowledges the problem, but he claims greater power to the constitution and intends to strictly follow …show more content…
it. Lincoln did not believe in secession, because if the union were to be violated in such a way, it would rip apart the seams of what the government was built upon. Lincoln declares that as the executive it is his duty to protect and defend the government, to him the union and his duties as an executive are intertwined. Lincoln did not support nor despise slavery. He merely considered it a factor in the controversy between states. Lincoln believed in the power of the union and understood it was necessary for the government to function. To him the union had to be perpetual because there is no co-existing between states. They would never be physically separated, and conflict would be inevitable. Furthermore, Lincoln says that if the union was a contract between states, then all the states had to have agreed upon entering it. From that if one party wanted to leave the union should it not be the decision of them all? Lincoln wanted to discourage states from leaving the union and cited numerous conflicts that would arise. Lincoln did not want conflict and reassured the states countless times that their freedoms would be protected under the constitution. South Carolina had already seceded, Lincoln needed to stop it from spreading and he was willing to listen to the south, leave them be, and warn them about the danger of secession. He knew that if more states seceded, then violence would be the only option. Lincoln did not want conflict, that was his last resort if by any other way the union could be saved he would do it. His inaugural address was aimed to stop states from seceding and promise safety and liberty to everyone in the union. The south had numerous reasons to secede from the union. In the South Carolina exposition they mention the contract theory, in which the states willingly created a contract. They claimed that if the contract was violated on one part then the wronged party has the option of leaving the contract. They compared this to the fugitive slave act. With the fugitive slave ac, legally any runaway slaves from the south had to be returned to the south. The north was enraged that such an unethical law could be upheld, and they opposed it. Slaves were rarely returned and if the southerners attempted to get them back they were abused and harassed, all for following the law. The south felt cheated, they did not want to participate in a union in which their rights were not being recognized. So many compromises were attempted, but in each one of them the south got the worse end of the deal. In the Kansas-Nebraska act, Kansas was supposed to become a slave state it seemed simple. Except, popular sovereignty resulted in northerners pouring in to tip the scale of slave and non-slave states. The southerners were enraged and began to counteract it by pouring into Kansas, this escalated into “bloody Kansas” a series of conflicts that led up to the civil war. Lincolns election itself really pushed the south to secede from the union. From two parties four were built. The Whig party had elected Douglas as their candidate, the south did not support the decision and broke away from them. Thus, the southern and northern democrat parties were formed. The southern democrats nominated Breckenridge as their candidate who was pro-slavery. The constitutional party was then formed which aimed to preserve the union, and their candidate was Bell. Since there was a wide array of candidates, come the election of 1860 Lincoln won without any of the votes from the south. The south viewed this as the culminating point. The balance of the power was now shifted to the North and the south was hasty to react. If Lincoln could get elected without a single vote from the south it left them powerless. They felt s if they would no longer have a say in the government. The south feared for the institution of slavery. They were boxed in by the North, the only option left was to break away. Even though the South still retained some power in the government they felt cornered what they had experienced so far led them to believe that their freedom was at risk. “If secession on demand is unacceptable, perpetual union ‘at all costs’ is also a troublesome idea ...
a democratic dilemma that has no easy answer.” I agree with this statement, because by forcing the union upon all the states it ends up compromising the values of the union. America is prided to be built upon democratic values, by making the states stay in the union against their will it is going against the basic democratic values. The declaration of independence highlights the right of the people to go against a government which acts in tyrannical manner. If the government is willing to do anything in their power to create a perpetual union including abusing their power, would that not go against the very basis of independence? If the state wanted to break from the union, by using aggression to bring it back, it contradicts the freedom promised to the
states. It also creates problems within the states, as seen with the civil war, the south considers it the war of northern aggression. This is because the south left peacefully and it was the north that pursued them. Lincoln was desperate for the union to be preserved he was willing to do whatever necessary to keep it alive. This leads to questioning on how democratic it was to forcefully bring the south back into the union. It turns into a democratic dilemma because it is difficult to act in a democratic manner when the union is concerned.
In Federalist Paper No. 6, one of the points it discussed was that it is dangerous if the states were left ...
At the time, the South depended on slavery to support their way of life. In fact, “to protect slavery the Confederate States of America would challenge the peaceful, lawful, orderly means of changing governments in the United States, even by resorting to war.” (635) Lincoln believed that slavery was morally wrong and realized that slavery was bitterly dividing the country. Not only was slavery dividing the nation, but slavery was also endangering the Union, hurting both black and white people and threatening the processes of government. At first, Lincoln’s goal was to save the Union in which “he would free none, some, or all the slaves to save that Union.” (634) However, Lincoln realized that “freeing the slaves and saving the Union were linked as one goal, not two optional goals.” (634) Therefore, Lincoln’s primary goal was to save the Union and in order to save the Union, Lincoln had to free the slaves. However, Paludan states that, “slave states understood this; that is why the seceded and why the Union needed saving.” (634) Lincoln’s presidential victory was the final sign to many Southerners that their position in the Union was
This doctrine will, in all probability, be gradually propagated, till it has votaries enough to countenance an open avowal of it. For nothing can be more evident, and to those who are able to take an enlarged view of the subject, than the alternative of an adoption of the new constitution or a dismemberment of the Union. However, if the Union were to disband, then the thirteen states would become thirteen countries unto themselves with their own armies. However, these armies would not be effective because the colonies are new with no experience and were poorly supplied. There would be war with each country trying to conquer the other and a war would happen over and over again. The countries in Europe are older, with a better Army, Navy, and are better supplied. Therefore, the small states would not have any chance with an invader like Europe. Hamilton explains that if the states stay together, work hard to build a military, and then continue to maintain their military, to include a branch of government that does nothing but care for the military, then the states can defeat all invaders and help each other when war breaks out. For, when you are united invaders are unable to enforce encroachments against the efforts of the great body of the people. Hamilton goes on to tell the colonists that without the Union they will revert to a monarchy and their freedoms will diminished when it comes to this type of government. However, if the public can learn to govern itself, then they can enjoy the freedoms that they have been wanting and live in safety and security of their own laws. This deserves the most serious and mature consideration of every prudent and honest man of whatever party. Then after thinking upon this great idea, there will not be any objection to a Union. In Federalist Paper Number Ten James Madison tells us that we need to defuse and control
If Lincoln was really the Great Emancipator he would have freed the slaves the first chance he got, but he didn’t. An amendment that helps prove this is the Corwin Amendment. This Amendment stated that slavery laws can only be changed by the states (Doc. C). In Document D, Lincoln stated that, “...to the effect that the Federal Government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the States, including that of persons held to service.” This quote shows how Lincoln agreed with the Corwin Amendment, and by agreeing to this it proves that Lincoln’s main goal was to keep the nation together. If he was really the Great Emancipator he would have disagreed with this amendment and stated his true state of mind. Also according to Emancipation Proclamation it said, “I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free;” (Doc. H) This sentence from the Emancipation Proclamation talks about freeing the slaves, but if you go into detail you will realize that the only slaves he is freeing are the ones in the South, and since the South is another nation they won’t even listen. This also clearly shows how he wasn’t going to free the slaves in the border states. Also according to the Emancipation Proclamation he gave the South about 4 months to
In the 1860’s the United States weren’t united because of the issue of slavery. The civil war was never just about getting the union back together, but about making it count and getting rid of slavery. The south wanted their slaves and would say they are “-the happiest, and in some, the freest people in the world”. (Doc 5) However, the north knew that was not true because of Harriet Beecher Stowe's “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. In 1854 when the Kansas-Nebraska act was passed it caused some issues. Anti-slavery supporters were not happy because they did not want expansion of slavery, but the pro-slavery supporters weren’t happy because they wanted slavery everywhere for sure. (Doc. 7)The Kansas-Nebraska act caused trouble before it was even passed, Senator Charles Sumner argued against and attacked pro-slavery men causing Preston Brooks to beat Sumner with a cane. The south praised Brooks while the north felt for Sumner. (Doc 8) In 1858 during his acceptance speech Lincoln said his famous line, “A house divided
Lincoln was a very smart lawyer and politician. During his “House Divided” speech he asked the question, “Can we, as a nation, continue together permanently, forever, half slave, and half free?" When he first asked this question, America was slowly gaining the knowledge and realizing that as a nation, it could not possibly exist as half-slave and half-free. It was either one way or the other. “Slavery was unconstitutional and immoral, but not simply on a practical level.” (Greenfield, 2009) Slave states and free states had significantly different and incompatible interests. In 1858, when Lincoln made his “House Divided” speech, he made people think about this question with views if what the end result in America must be.
Abraham Lincoln's position on slavery was the belief that the expansion of it to Free states and new territories should be ceased and that it eventually be abolished completely throughout the country. He believed simply that slavery was morally wrong, along with socially and politically wrong in the eyes of a Republican. Lincoln felt that this was a very important issue during the time period because there was starting to be much controversy between the Republicans and the Democrats regarding this issue. There was also a separation between the north and the south in the union, the north harboring the Free states and the south harboring the slave states. Lincoln refers many times to the Constitution and its relations to slavery. He was convinced that when our founding fathers wrote the Constitution their intentions were to be quite vague surrounding the topic of slavery and African-Americans, for the reason that he believes was because the fathers intended for slavery to come to an end in the distant future, in which Lincoln refers to the "ultimate extinction" of slavery. He also states that the men who wrote the constitution were wiser men, but obviously did not have the experience or technological advances that the men of his day did, hence the reasons of the measures taken by our founding fathers.
In the years paving the way to the Civil War, both north and south were disagreeable with one another, creating the three “triggering” reasons for the war: the fanaticism on the slavery issue, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the separation of the Democratic Party. North being against the bondage of individuals and the South being for it, there was no real way to evade the clash. For the south slavery was a form of obtaining a living, without subjugation the economy might drop majorly if not disappear. In the North there were significant ethical issues with the issue of subjugation. Amazing measures to keep and dispose of subjugation were taken and there was never a genuine adjusted center for bargain. Despite the fact that there were a lot of seemingly insignificant issues, the fundamental thing that divided these two states was bondage and the flexibilities for it or against. With these significant extremes, for example, John Brown and Uncle Tom's Cabin, the south felt disdain towards the danger the Northerners were holding against their alleged flexibilities. The more hatred the South advanced, the more combative they were to anything the Northerners did. Northerners were irritated and it parted Democrats over the issue of bondage and made another Republican gathering, which included: Whigs, Free Soilers, Know Nothings and previous Democrats and brought about a split of segments and abbreviated the street to common war. Southerners loathed the insubordination of the north and started to address how they could stay with the Union.
During the 1800’s, if the states are sovereign then they have the right to secede from the Union (A...
In a speech that Lincoln gave prior to his presidency, we can see how ambiguous his stance on slavery truly was. This speech, known as the ‘House Divided’ speech, was given on the 16th of June, 1858, and outlined his beliefs regarding secession, but did not solidify the abolition of slavery as his main goal. Lincoln states that the nation “could not endure, permanently half slave and half free,” and that the slavery will either cease to exist, or will encompass all states lawfully (Lincoln). At this point in his life, Lincoln’s primary concern is clearly with the preservation of the nation.
...ld not protect the interest of the Southern states. Coupled with the hostilities, lack of votes for Lincoln from the South and disregard for the constitutional protection of slavery is a justifiable reason from the Southern leaders to secede from the Union.
Contrary to what today’s society believes about Lincoln, he was not a popular man with the South at this period in time. The South wanted to expand towards the West but Lincoln created a geographical containment rule keeping slavery in the states it currently resided in. Despite his trying to rationalize with the South, Lincoln actually believed something different ”Lincoln claimed that he, like the Founding Fathers, saw slavery in the Old South as regrettable reality whose expansion could and should be arrested, thereby putting it on the long and gradual road ”ultimate extinction” (216). He believed it to be “evil” thus “implying that free southerners were evil for defending it”(275). Lincoln wanted to wipe out slavery for good and the South could sense his secret motives. By trying to trick them, the South rebelled as soon as Lincoln became president and launched what is today known as the Civil war.
In the 1860 presidential election, Republicans, led by Abraham Lincoln, opposed the expansion of slavery into United States' territories. Lincoln won, but before his inauguration on March 4, 1861, seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy. The first six to secede had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, a total of 48.8% for the six. Outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincoln's inaugural address declared his administration would not initiate civil war. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession. Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy. A peace conference failed to find a compromise, and both sides prepared for war. The Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on "King Cotton" that they would intervene; none did and none recognized the new Conf...
The southern states loved owning slaves, they made so much money and benefits from owning slaves. Since Abraham Lincoln became president and tried to take slavery away they felt like he was trying to take money away from them. I feel like there could have been a way the south states and President Abraham Lincoln could have talked something out. Both sides had a reason, and was very protective over how they felt. The south loved owning slaves, but if they could have understood where Abraham Lincoln was coming from with his point of view, maybe the station could have got resolved. Lincoln looked at the situation of owning slaves were disrespectful, and just mean. He knew human beings are all the same and the way they treated states at the time was so hurtful to see. They would beat ...
In spite of the prominence of the states in everyday life, the most demanding public policy questions former to the American Civil War involved discussions over the possibility of national power with most Americans believing it should remain partial. Yet federalism was still the center of political arguments. The Constitution did not report if states did nor did not reserve any remaining sovereignty in the powers given to the national government. The fact that the states were much more capable in accomplishing governmental purposes adequately t...